An Easter Egg Hunt
by NoctePluvia
Summary: Children hunt for Easter eggs. Jack thinks he's a child, maybe. Bunny disagrees. ONESHOT. Angst. No slash. Pre-movie.


It wasn't his first Easter.

Jack Frost had spent the first several years of his life trying to figure out just what was going on. Who he was, why he was invisible, what he was supposed to do. Granted, he still hadn't figured out much. He had theories, sure, and half answers. He knew his name was Jack Frost, for example, and that he could create frost and snow and ice. He thought, maybe, that he was a ghost and that was why no one could see him. He hoped his purpose would be to do more than just spread winter, alone and unseen for the rest of eternity.

So far, his hope had not come true.

Today was not the day to worry about such things, however. Today was Easter. Today was the day that kids ran around looking for eggs; eggs which were hidden by the famous Easter Bunny. Jack did not know much about the Easter Bunny, or why a bunny would want to hide chocolate eggs around the world once a year. Not that he cared, particularly. The children loved Easter, and Jack loved seeing everyone have so much fun.

That said, Jack did not like Easter all that much himself. It wasn't the holiday, really, that put Jack off, so much as it was the season that came with it. With Easter came spring, and Jack could not stay at his lake in the spring. The temperature, the spring sprites, and the winds all disagreed with the winter spirit staying in the Northern Hemisphere in the spring and summer.

Jack would have to leave his lake in the next few days, but for now he wouldn't worry about that. Today was a day for fun and games, and Jack Frost wanted to play. This year, Jack would hunt for eggs.

Egg hunts were for children. Adults would watch in amusement, and encourage the children in their searches, but the children were the ones that did the actual hunting. Jack wasn't pretty sure he wasn't a child. At least not a young child, like the ones that believed in the Easter Bunny. But at the same time, Jack did not really consider himself an adult. He wasn't responsible, or mature, and he certainly didn't know what he was doing, as all the adults that he'd seen did.

For today, Jack would be a child. He had found a broken basket out with the trash a couple of days ago. Luckily, only the handle was broken, so it could still hold eggs. Now Jack stood at the end of a row of kids, all lined up at the starting line of a community egg hunt. Jack had laid his staff down on the line, and held his empty basket with anticipation. Looking around, he could almost convince himself that he really was one of the children, and that after the egg hunt he would go home with his family to eat the chocolate eggs.

At the sound of the bell, Jack took off with the rest of the kids. He dodged the children before they could run through him, and sprinted toward the back of the field near the woods. While most of the children were scrambling for eggs near the starting line, Jack nearly had his pick of eggs, with only a few kids to compete with. None of the children seemed to notice when he picked up an egg; the egg, like his basket, and like Jack himself, were invisible to the children. They were completely unaware when several eggs went missing, assuming that someone else had simply picked them up. And in a way, they were correct.

Jack grinned as he found a blue and white egg half buried in the last traces of snow on the ground. He placed it in his half-filled basket, completely unaware of the figure watching him from the woods.

* * *

As much as Bunnymund loved Easter, he had to admit that it was the most stressful day of the year. In addition to painting billions of eggs over the course of a few days, he also had to make sure that all the eggs ended up where they were supposed to. Through rain, wind, or snow, Bunny always made sure that every single egg found its destination, and into the hands of a child.

Every year, after herding the eggs, Bunny made a trip around the world as the egg hunts started, to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He had already gone through South America, and wanted to go through North America before heading to Europe. Europe always took the longest because that was where his largest believer base was. Thousands of homes and hundreds of communities in Europe required eggs on Easter morning.

Recently, however, Bunny found himself spending more time in North America, and a few parts of South America. British colonies had been set up and had brought their traditions with them. As the colonies grew, Bunny found more children waiting for the Easter Bunny every year.

He was in a British colony on the eastern seaboard of North America when he sensed that something was wrong. The lingering scent of someone else's magic drew Bunny to a community egg hunt where children were in the midst of finding his eggs. Bunny frowned, watching the scene. He didn't see anything, but there was definitely someone here, some winter magic if he had to guess. And the last thing Bunnymund needed on his holiday was tricks from a winter sprite.

That was when he spotted him. Bunny saw a winter sprite, with a mischievous, trouble-making grin, picking up the Easter eggs meant for _his_ children. Bunny was livid. All the spirits knew, you did _not_ mess with another's holiday. Even the seasonal sprites, with their unconcerned, carefree ways tended to steer clear of the wrath of a holiday spirit whose day was messed up.

Bunny saw the sprite walk closer the woods he was hiding in, and watched as he picked up another egg. Making sure none of the children saw him, Bunny reached out and grabbed the sprite, pulling him backwards into the forest.

* * *

With a surprised yelp, Jack found himself being pulled backwards into the woods, several eggs spilling from his basket. Turning around, Jack glared at the newcomer.

"Hey! What was that for, I was-" Jack cut off abruptly as he stared in awe at the giant rabbit in front of him.

"What do you think you're _doing_? Those eggs are for the _children_, not for some meddling winter sprite." Jack continued to stare, before blurting out the first coherent thought to enter his mind.

"You're the Easter Bunny," he said in unabashed amazement. Bunny, however, did not have time for these antics.

"Yeah, I know. And those are _my_ eggs you're taking." Bunny made sure to stand at his full height, hoping to intimidate the sprite.

That was when something seemed to dawn on Jack.

"Wait a minute. You can- you can _see_ me," he said in shock. "You can _hear_ me. You _touched_ me." Jack was thrilled. Did this mean there were others that could see him? Did that mean he wasn't a ghost?

"Can it with the theatrics, mate," Bunny snarled, unimpressed with the sprite's feigned ignorance. Everyone knew seasonal sprites didn't need believers and preferred solitary lifestyles. "You got three seconds to put those googies down and get out of here, or I'll do it for you."

Jack, still in shock, blinked dumbly at Bunny.

"Oh, for crying out-" Bunny reached out and snatched the basket from Jack's hands. "Give me these. Now get out of here, you bloody sprite."

That was when Jack seemed to snap out of it.

"Wait, what? I am _not_ a winter sprite." Jack had seen some of the seasonal sprites. They were pranksters that seemed to live purely for causing trouble. And while Jack could not deny that he had stirred up some trouble before, he was definitely not as careless as the sprites. The sprites didn't care about humans, didn't care about children, didn't want anything more than to simply spread winter.

And Jack wanted _so much _more.

"Yeah, whatever," Bunny said, turning away from Jack. "Just head down south, would you? Winter is over in this hemisphere." He started walking away.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Jack asked, startled. Someone had spoken to him for the first time in his life; he had been seen by someone for the first time he that he could remember. Even if it was an irritable overgrown rabbit, Jack didn't want him to leave.

"_I'm_ going to give these eggs back to the children. Then I'm going to go make sure there are no more sprites messing with my eggs." Bunny turned around to glare threateningly at the sprite one more time. "_You're_ going to get out of here, before I sic the spring spirit on you." Bunny turned away again, grumbling about unmanageable sprites, and then tapped his foot twice on the ground.

"What? But-" Before Jack had time to say anything else, Bunny had disappeared into the hole, which immediately closed behind him. "Can I come with you?"

Jack looked dejectedly at the flower that had sprouted where the rabbit hole had closed. He bent down in front of it, and hesitated. He wanted to pick the flower, to keep it. Jack reached out slowly, hesitantly, before lightly touching the flower.

It froze immediately, colors dulling under the frost that spread across its petals. Jack stood abruptly and walked away, back to the field where children were reuniting with there parents, proudly showing off their eggs. He didn't notice the fresh snow that was already dusting the ground.

"_Those eggs are for the children."_

Jack didn't have anyone to show his eggs to. Then he realized he didn't even have any eggs. Bunny had taken Jack's basket with him. So then he wasn't a child after all. And he didn't seem to be a ghost.

_What am I, then?_

Jack returned to the starting line, where he picked up his staff. He walked away from the shivering families that were heading back into town, towards the fire.

That night, a massive blizzard dumped two feet of wet, heavy snow on the colonies. An unexpected freak occurrence so late in the season, so close to spring. It was the worst blizzard North America would see for centuries, until a blizzard on Easter in 1968.


End file.
